Each of these containers must be carefully checked for sanctions. Of the approximately 470 million tonnes of goods that are transhipped annually in the port of Rotterdam, about 13 percent goes to Russia. Of all the containers that pass through, about a tenth are somehow connected to Russia.
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“Just imagine the nightmare that materialized,” Castelein said. He recalled that global supply chains in general, and container shipping in particular, had barely recovered from the chaos caused by the covid-19 pandemic before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Of the thousands of shipments on each vessel, “tens or hundreds can be destined for Russia,” he said. “It is necessary to insulate them, separate them from each other and then perform a physical inspection of the containers before they are released,” he added.
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4500 containers are waiting to be inspected
“This further increases costs in terms of physical space, labor and time,” Castelein said. According to him, 4,500 containers are now waiting for inspection in the port, which is an extraordinary situation. “We try to keep this number as low as possible because we have limited space,” he explained.
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If the number of containers related to Russia would lead to a complete blockade of the terminals, the port is ready to create free capacity by establishing a so-called storage area. “The capacity of the Euromax terminal can be expanded, we could eventually use that,” he said.
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According to the port’s website, about 30 percent of Russian oil, 25 percent of liquefied natural gas (LNG), 20 percent of oil products and coal pass through it. “A large part of the refineries in this area are set up for Russian oil,” the port chief said. This means that even if supplies can be replaced, the efficiency and yield of fuel may not be the same, he said.
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Many carriers have suspended container traffic
The Dutch government is taking measures to increase LNG import capacity to the Netherlands in the short term. The capacity of the port’s LNG terminal, operated by Nederlandse Gasunie and Koninklijke Vopak, is expected to increase by 30 to 40 percent by the end of the year, Castelein said.
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